Kerr scored his only five points in the fourth quarter as the
San Antonio Spurs extended their winning streak to a season-high
six games with a 90-88 victory over the Houston Rockets.

The best 3-point shooter in NBA history, Kerr drilled a shot
from behind the arc with 9:17 remaining to give the Spurs a
70-63 advantage.

After the Rockets battled back to tie the contest, Kerr, a 92
percent free throw shooter, made a pair of foul shots to give
the Spurs the lead for good, 85-83, with 1:35 remaining.

Trailing 90-88, the Rockets had chance to win it but Maurice
Taylor's 3-pointer at the buzzer barely grazed the right side of
the rim.

"Im proud of our guys. They sustained and kept their intensity
down the stretch," San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich said.

All-Star Tim Duncan scored 28 points and grabbed 11 rebounds to
lead San Antonio, which improved to 3-0 against Houston this
season while beating the Rockets for 11th straight time overall.

"All in all I thought we played a good last five minutes to give
us an opportunity," Duncan said. "It's a great win for us
because down the stretch we didn't play the greatest basketball
but we found a way to win."

Steve Francis had 29 points and 10 rebounds and Cuttino Mobley
scored 28 points for the Rockets, who lost for the sixth time in
their last eight games.

"You don't get wins with effort," Francis said. "I thought we
won that game. There were a lot of things in that game I refuse
to talk about. We missed shots down the stretch and that's how
we lost the game."

Houston struggled from the floor, shooting only 38 percent
(35-of-93). But despite those numbers, the Rockets were able to
hang around in a contest that featured 17 lead changes and 13
ties.

A dunk by Duncan gave the Spurs their biggest lead, 75-67, with
7:43 remaining. The Rockets answered with a 16-7 spurt, capped
by a 3-pointer from Francis, to take an 83-82 lead with 2:13 to
play.

After Duncan made 1-of-2 from the line with 1:52 left, Kerr
converted his free throws 17 seconds later to put San Antonio in
front for good.

Led by Duncan, San Antonio's starting frontcourt dominated
Houston's, outscoring it by a lopsided 49-21 margin.

Duncan made 12-of-24 shots. He had his most dominant stretch at
the end of the first quarter, when he scored his club's final 12
points to help it to a 22-21 lead.

Mobley also was on fire in the first half, scoring 16 points to
help Houston take a 42-40 lead. The Rockets led by as many as
five points in the third quarter, but the contest was tied at
61-61 entering the final period.

David Robinson added 13 points and Terry Porter 12 for San
Antonio, which shot 46 percent (33-of-72) and was outrebounded,
52-42.

"We're starting to gain some confidence," Spurs center David
Robinson said. "This is the first real roll we have been on.
Things are starting to go good. Things are happening, we are
gaining the confidence to make stops down the stretch. We have
turned our defense up a notch."